


Bad Choices

by anephemeralmind



Category: Call Me By Your Name (2017) RPF
Genre: Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-25
Updated: 2020-06-25
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:47:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,543
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24915598
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anephemeralmind/pseuds/anephemeralmind
Summary: When Timmy tells him about his travel plans, Armie doesn't know if he's supposed to laugh or cry.
Relationships: Timothée Chalamet/Armie Hammer
Comments: 44
Kudos: 78





	Bad Choices

**Author's Note:**

> here have this unedited mess because i'm still kinda angry and processing okay bye

The FaceTime calls with Timmy aredefinitely one of the highlights of Armie’s day, other than getting to hang out with his kids of course. Obviously he would have rather been with Timmy in LA as planned, but, there’s no point in still being hung up on that.

Can’t change the past after all.

Armie knows things are gearing up with the new girl they’d chosen for Timmy to pretend to be interested in for the next couple of months, and that the news of their ‘relationship’ is going to be dropping soon, along with some convenient paparazzi photos, just awaiting publication.

Timmy hadn’t known the details of everything the last time they’d spoken about it, just that they wanted him to put a little bit more effort into it with this one, maybe even actually say her name out loud.

He hates that this is something Timmy feels the need to do, but he knows it’s not as easy as just saying no when they tell you to do something. Especially not when you’re still as new to the ugly sides of a Hollywood career as Timmy is.

No matter how many times Armie has told Timmy to just tell them all to go to hell, Timmy had never felt like he could.

“They can make or break my career, Armie.” He’d always said. “I know it’s not the best look right now, but it’s all temporary, yeah? And they said it’s gonna be for the best in the long run, which, they know what they’re talking about, right?”

He’d been lucky, he knows that, he was already married by the time his career was starting to take off. Sure, it never took off quite the same way Timmy’s had, but he didn’t really mind, he liked being able to be a little picky with choosing which movies to do.

Always choosing the ones that sounded the most fun to shoot, and not necessarily the ones his people thought the Academy award jury would like the best.

Of course, if he’d ever get an Oscar nomination, he’d be beyond thrilled – but after what happened with Call Me, he’d come to realize that he didn’t really need it. He was happy with his career the way that it was.

Awards didn’t say jackshit about your abilities, just that luck was on your side, and the movie you chose to do got released at just the right moment in time to resonate with the right people.

Timmy though, after the initial nomination, despite not expecting it at all – he’d started craving that win. His people even more so. They saw him as someone who could easily get that trophy as long as they played their cards right.

And part of the game? Being seen as straight, and desirable. Both to his audience, and the higher ups that still frowned upon anything that didn’t fit their very specific mold of what a man should be. AKA everyone who weren’t white, straight, and very visibly masculine.

Timmy really only had one of those working for him, and as such, had to overcompensate like fuck to be taken seriously. Or at least that’s what they’d told him.

When the pictures from Capri had first reached him last year, he’d been upset. Not because he didn’t understand why Timmy went there, because he did, he was mostly just upset because Timmy looked like he’d rather be dead than kissing Lily-Rose.

He never wanted to see that look on his face, or the tension in his body, ever again.

So when Timmy told him that he’d signed up for another stunt, Armie hadn’t known what to say. He’d been expecting it, of course, with the movies Timmy had coming up, there’s no way his people wouldn’t take advantage of the situation to get his name – and his heterosexuality – out there to the masses.

But he had been a little surprised to learn that despite the pandemic going on, and at least one of said movies getting delayed, they hadn’t felt the need to postpone the stunt. Timmy had told him just the other day that they were getting them both tested so that they could be papped kissing without having to worry about the virus.

Which was both smart, opportunistic, and more than a little disgusting at the same time.

“You’re never going to believe this.” Timmy laughs as Armie picks up the call, and he can’t help but smile when his face comes properly into focus. “They just told us what they want us to do, for the first outing, and let me tell you, it definitely beats the shit out of fried chicken!”

Armie can’t help but snort, he’d given Timmy plenty of shit for both that initial fried chicken, and all the goddamn bagels he’d ingested during those months with Lily-Rose. It had basically become an inside joke, though half the internet seemed to be in on the joke as well, so it probably wasn’t really all that private.

“Yeah? What’re they having you do then? Go out for burritos?” Armie laughed as Timmy immediately rolled his eyes.

He’d made the comment in jest, sure, but after all the goddamn bagel trips they’d suggested Tim take Lily-Rose on, it was still, ridiculously, a valid question.

“Ha Ha, very funny. No, get this, they’re flying us down to freaking Cabo!” Timmy’s eyes were glinting with excitement, but Armie immediately felt his blood run cold, a frown taking over his face.

“I’m sorry, _what?_ ” There’s no way Armie heard him right, it has to be a joke – a sick joke, but a joke all the same.

Timmy couldn’t possibly be this stupid, right?

“Yeah! And even better, I don’t have to go alone this time! Giullian is flying in to hang with me, it’s gonna be fucking amazing, I haven’t seen him in ages now.”

Timmy looks so excited at the prospect of an all expenses paid trip, and seeing his friend again, that it seems to have completely slipped his mind that the world was still very much in the shit, and the numbers were only getting worse by the minute.

“Have you forgotten there’s a fucking pandemic going on?” Armie frowns, because he knows Timmy had been careful so far.

He’d been sticking to the social distancing, wearing a mask when he’d gone outside, and he’d brought a bottle of hand-sanitizer with him when he’d gone out for the protests the other week.

So how in the shit had he changed his mind on the situation so drastically that a trip to fucking Mexico, just for shits and giggles, seemed like an actual good idea?

“Oh come on, man, don’t be so dramatic.” Timmy rolled his eyes, as if Armie’s concern was the stupidest thing he’d ever heard, and Armie honestly felt a little bit like Timmy had just slapped him in the face.

Here he was, stuck on a goddamn island with no fucking escape – and believe him, he’d tried. He’d even whored himself out on Instagram, practically begging for a ride out of this place, to no avail. – and Timmy was planning on flying to a luxury resort for a weekend of PR stunting, just because the opportunity presented itself.

After learning to stand up for himself, at least a little, during the Lily-Rose stunt, Armie knew that Timmy definitely had the option of saying no to this. Not the stunt itself, but the location, the execution at the very least. He’d done that before, when they wanted him to post on his Instagram more, pictures or stories with him and Lily-Rose together.

He’d said no, but posted enough stories and photos to his feed to show they were hanging out, without actually having to show her face on his account at all.

That stupid picture of his dinner plate when he was in Capri had made Armie laugh for ages, because he knew that that wasn’t at all what the team had meant when they asked for those things – but it wasn’t as if Timmy wasn’t complying with their directives, so they couldn’t bust his balls for it either.

Which is why he can’t fucking believe that saying no to this didn’t even seem to cross Timmy’s mind.

“Dram– _Dramatic?”_ He practically shrieks, not giving a damn if anyone can hear him. “Tim, people are literally dying, and you’re telling me you’re perfectly fine jetting off to fucking Cabo just to get papped and sell your stunt?”

Once again, Timmy just rolls his eyes, as if this is the most boring conversation he’s had in a while, and Armie has to fight the urge to want to strangle him. “Yeah, like, we’ve all been tested dude, it’s fine.”

The dismissive tone of voice Timmy uses is not one Armie is used to hearing directed at himself, and he can’t stop himself from scoffing.

“Mhm, and what about all the other people around? At the resort, the airport, the beach? What about them, huh? All it takes is one fucking person, and then you take it back home with you, and spread it around.”

He can see that Timmy isn’t giving a shit about any of what he’s saying, and if he’d been a cartoon character he would have been yawning by now. It makes Armie’s blood fucking boil, and he should probably hang up now before they say something they end up regretting.

But he can’t stop himself, he never could. Shaking his head, he puts on his most disappointed dad voice, and hopes it’ll have somewhat the same effect on Timmy as it does his kids. He doubts it, since Timmy isn’t 5, but you never know.

“I can’t believe you’re actually going to fly off on some fucking luxury vacation mid pandemic.”

“What, like _you_ did?” Timmy snaps, and Armie almost drops his phone in shock at having that thrown so callously in his face, when Timmy knows damn well Elizabeth had taken that decision out of his hands.

It pisses him off beyond belief, because he’d never thought Timmy would be the type of person to use Elizabeth against him. It was such a fucking low blow, and Timmy goddamn knew that.

“You know damn fucking well I had no choice. I was coming to LA, to be with _you,_ but then Liz fucking changed the plans on me and took the kids to the Cayman’s. What the fuck else was I supposed to do?”

“Of course I know that, I’m just saying, it’s a little hypocritical of you to judge me for something you did yourself.” Timmy shrugs, as if the comparing the two situations – which couldn’t be more different – is completely valid.

“Except I didn’t do it for _clout_ , Timmy. I did it to be with my kids.” Armie almost can’t believe he has to explain himself, that Timmy really is being this fucking dense on purpose, just to justify going down to Cabo for a quick paparazzi shoot, which they could have fucking done anywhere in Los Angeles.

There are so many beaches available, it’s almost laughable that they’re choosing to travel to get to another one. It would be laughable, if it wasn’t so goddamn infuriatingly selfish of them all.

“Whatever.” Timmy rolls his eyes again, and Armie swears he’s never hated a habit of Timmy’s quite as much as the dismissive eye rolls. “You know this is going to be good for my career, that’s all that matters right now.”

Of course he’d known that Timmy’s ambition levels far exceeds his own, but he still can’t quite believe that he’s willing to do something like this, in the middle of a virus outbreak that still had no cure or vaccine, just on the off chance that his reputation amongst the Hollywood elite would improve.

“This stupid fucking virus has messed up so many things for me, and we really fucking need Dune to do well, they can’t afford another flop. _I_ can’t afford another flop. And they said that this is going to be good for that, for people to start to connect my name with more stereotypical male things, like banging hot girls, instead of peaches and shit.”

It doesn’t take a genius to realize that these aren’t fully Timmy’s words, that most of it are just lies his team has been filling his head with to the point where he’s internalized them all and sees them as truth.

But it still stings to hear them come out of his mouth, as if they truly were his own opinions. That he’s choosing to go with their version of reality, where increasing your name recognition and overhauling your image means more to you than the literal fate of the world.

Armie can’t deny he’s disappointed. The stunting he understands, but the timing, and the location, he’ll never understand why Timmy would ever agree to that. Least of all fucking _justify_ it.

“Wow. I can’t believe you’ve actually managed to justify this to yourself. There’s a fucking pandemic going on Tim, you shouldn’t fucking be traveling. End of.” Armie scoffs, clutching his phone so tightly in his hand he’s losing circulation to his fingers. “There are beaches in LA too, you know that. Or why not just take her out on a walk or something, like Ben Affleck has been doing. You don’t need to go to fucking Mexico for this.”

Timmy lets out a humorless laugh, and shakes his head, looking at something above his phone while muttering to himself. “This is so fucking typical of you, I swear to god. You’re such a massive hypocrite, Armie. You’re sitting there on your goddamn Caribbean island thinking you get to judge me for taking a quick, and _safe_ trip, just because you had a more noble reason when you took off.”

Before Armie has the chance to say anything, Timmy spits out,“Fuck that. _Fuck you_. You’re not the fucking boss of me just because we’re dating, I’m doing this whether you approve or not, it doesn’t fucking matter.”

Armie knows a lost cause when he sees one. Timmy is never going to change his mind about this trip, no matter what he says, but that doesn’t mean he has to sit there and take it. “You know what, fuck it. I’m done.”

He shrugs to himself, seeing Timmy’s eyes start to comically widen – and if the situation had been different, he might have laughed, but there was nothing funny about this at all.

“What?” Timmy squeaks, clearly not expecting Armie to back off quite like that.

“You heard me.” Armie says calmly, shutting his emotions off one by one, just like he’d practiced all the years he’d been stuck on this island before. “Call me if you manage to eventually find your soul where it’s been buried beneath all that ambition.”

“Armie, come on.” Timmy practically begs, but Armie just shakes his head.

“No, this is… Goodbye Tim.”

He hangs up, and takes a large gulp of his drink, wincing when it burns all the way down his throat. To think he’d been calling to tell Timmy he’d finally found a way back home, now Los Angeles was the last fucking place he wanted to go.

**Author's Note:**

> to reiterate - i give zero shits about the stunt, because that's whatever, doesn't fucking matter. but the travelling to mexico to do it? nah son.


End file.
